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Confused? That’s the pin code of Sri Ganganagar, a city best known as ‘Food Basket of Rajasthan’.
But for a budding cricketer, it was a place almost 500km away from Rajasthan’s main hub, Jaipur. A young Manav Suthar put those hurdles aside, travelling alone away from home to be part of Rajasthan’s various age-group trials.
While he lacked financial comfort, giving up was never an option for Manav Suthar, whose zid and junoon have now put Sri Ganganagar on the cricketing map.
“Financially, we weren’t too strong, but my dad and entire family supported and backed me to the hilt. They always backed me and never told me no for cricket,” Suthar opened up in a Cricket.com exclusive.
“It motivated me to perform and make my entire family proud, so I took cricket quite seriously and did not waste time indulging in other things.”
As the famous saying goes, ‘It takes an entire city to raise a professional cricketer’. In Suthar’s case, it was a combination of his family, his coach Dheeraj Sharma and Sri Ganganagar district cricket association secretary, Vinod Saharan, which led to him becoming the all-rounder we know today.
Only a few months into his time at the academy, Suthar's talent convinced the secretary to intervene. The secretary advised the coach, Dheeraj, to ensure Suthar's game was the only priority, essentially waiving his fees. This decision served as both a massive motivational boost and a complete turning point in Suthar's life
“My coach [Dheeraj Sharma] and secretary [Vinod] backed me a lot. Our academy was such that when you join, you have a three-month plan. I wasn’t financially strong, so when I was practising, Vinod sir told Dheeraj sir ‘I don’t have to pay fees’, and whatever was required for me, he would do it for me,” the youngster recollected.
From a cricketing standpoint, Suthar's path was decided by his coach, who saw "immense potential" not in his batting, but in his bowling. Like many young players, the Rajasthan boy initially saw himself as a batter and never truly envisioned a career as a bowler.
“I was quite fascinated by batting, and I used to bowl a bit. But batting was my favourite thing to do, and I started as a batter in the academy. Later, my coach [Dheeraj Sharma] saw my action and told me, ‘You must become a bowler’. In my under-14 days, I used to bat, but my entire focus was shifted towards bowling,” he said.
“I used to practise bowling twice a day. But in the last three to four years, whenever I get time, I practise a lot on my batting; it has become quite an important skill nowadays, while bowling has become my primary skill.”
While bowling wasn’t his first choice, he later realised that he was a natural bowler when he bowled with a diagonal action, starkly in contrast to the left-arm spinners in the country.
“When I started playing cricket, my coach asked me to bowl diagonally, and since then, I have been bowling that way. My body aligned properly, and the ball was coming out well from my hand. Run-up was natural, and I have never tried to change it,” he recalled.
But what’s more fascinating about his journey is that Suthar never excused himself from training hard as a cricketer even when the temperature in Sri Ganganagar hovered around 50 degrees Celsius. His training routines are quite simple: a lot of spot bowling, 15 overs in the day and 15 overs in the evening – a combination of which has allowed him to improve as a bowler.
“I love spot bowling [bowling with targets] a lot. I used to do it daily during my practice; it gave me a lot of consistency, and I focused on that,” the youngster talked about his bowling.
“As a bowler, everything should be right – body should be aligned, and the drive too should be correct, and bowling diagonally helped me. I used to bowl like 15-20 overs in the morning, and 20-25 overs in the evening when I was young. When I’m at home, I bowl like 20-25 overs, sometimes 30 overs.
“I plan two sessions, 10-15 overs in the day and 10-15 overs in the evening, and because I enjoy bowling, I don’t get bogged down by the heat.”
While he had started his career inspired by the explosive, left-handed power of Yuvraj Singh, his shift to bowling brought a new guru: the master tactician, Ravichandran Ashwin. Suthar began to gaze over Ashwin's play, absorbing every subtle detail about the angle of the ball, his position on the crease, and the chess-like precision of his field setups.
“When I was a kid, I watched a lot of Yuvraj sir. He used to win games for India with the bat. I liked his style a lot, and because I was a leftie, I idolised him.
“When I became a bowler, I watched a lot of Ash [Ashwin] bhai, like how he plans for different batters, and he’s just top-class. He’s called a scientist for a reason; he knows how to perform on different wickets, so that inspired me a lot,” he said, praising Ashwin’s influence on his cricketing career.
It all started becoming evident in his game as Suthar quickly evolved himself as the next big thing in Indian cricket, after his breakthrough season in the Ranji Trophy 2022/23. The left-arm impressed several, picking up 39 wickets in the season, averaging 20.33. Not only did he pick up two five-wicket hauls, the left-arm spinner’s stunning 8/33 put him on the national radar.
A few months later, he was picked alongside next-gen cricketers in India A’s squad for the 2023 ACC Emerging Asia Cup. The left-arm spinner shone through and through, picking up 10 wickets at an average of 19.50.
Though early, there were signs that the left-arm spinner was earmarked as India’s potential future after he sealed himself an INR 20 lakh Indian Premier League (IPL) contract with the Gujarat Titans, where he shared the dressing room alongside Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore and Jayant Yadav – three solid spinners.
“I used to talk to them a lot. Jayant [Yadav] bhai told me, ‘You focus on your strength and keep at it, don’t try anything different. You will get to know about your strengths then.’
“Rashid [Khan] bhai used to tell me, ‘Think what the batter is doing and look at the situation, and then you have to plan your game accordingly.’ I used to have these kinds of conversations, which helped me a lot. I learnt that you must be street smart in T20 cricket and be one step ahead of the batter.”
“The atmosphere was as perfect as it could get for the youngster, with Ashish Nehra’s mentorship giving him ample freedom to go out and give his best.
“You are right about Ashu [Ashish Nehra] pa, he gives you a lot of freedom, and gives players that comfort level. I didn’t feel like I was playing my first IPL match because we used to practise like we were playing games in the nets.
“Ashu pa told me, ‘Khulke, bindaas hoke, acche enjoy karke ball dalna hai, koi tension nahi hai' [Bowl with freedom, don’t worry about anything, be chilled], you think of doing well for yourself and the team,’ he said.
Not just that, because of his Gujarat Titans’ experience, he bagged himself a rare opportunity to play division cricket in Chennai, where he was soon teammates with fellow Titans Shahrukh Khan. So, how did that experience of playing division cricket help Suthar?
“Definitely, playing in Tamil Nadu really helped me a lot because there are a lot of batters who are great against spin. It gives you more experience on those wickets, and that stint really helped me a lot,” Suthar spoke about his Chennai experience.
“I played like 7-8 matches, I got to learn a lot, I learnt how to remain patient across wickets because the conditions were different on different pitches. You have to play differently on different wickets, so I learnt a lot about planning. My focus was on giving my 100%, and I used that opportunity to learn a lot about my own game,” he added.
More importantly, however, that stint helped him get into the minds of the batters, which then he put into his own batting. Visibly so, the left-hander’s batting has massively improved over the last two years. It was evident in the recently concluded Irani Cup final, where the left-hander forged a crucial 104-run stand with Yash Dhull.
Suthar ended up unbeaten on 56 off 113 balls, with four fours and a six, showing his ability to play the long game. In his 25-match-long first-class career, it has already become evident that he’s a capable batter – 796 runs @24.87, including 6 50s. But for Suthar, his batting is just evolving.
“Batting has become incredibly vital as the game progresses. It doesn't just add runs; it instils a real belief in the entire squad. That’s why I dedicate serious time to practice: the better you bat, the more confidence you gain, and that ultimately becomes an essential part of my value to the team.”
“I have worked really hard on my power-hitting, and I am still working on it. If you get time to bat down the order, your runs make a huge difference. Whenever I get time, I practise against a bowling machine, or side-arm, whatever opportunity I get.”
It has now become an open secret that the selectors have their eyes on 23-year-old Suthar as India’s next big left-arm spinner, with a rumoured closeness to a call-up before India’s two-match Test series against West Indies. But the youngster isn’t too fazed about selection, as he intends to become a consistent match-winner for his team.
“No, nothing like that [conversations with selectors], but my coaches keep telling me, ‘You are doing well, keep up the good work. ’ Whenever I get a chance, I just try to help my team win; that’s always been my goal, and to win games for the team,” Suthar admitted.
“I don’t think too much about next months, I focus on the next match and how I can do well for the team and win the match. My thinking is usually around short-term goals and to help the team win. Step-by-step, I just want to prove myself and help my team.”
Suthar is the quiet assassin. Off the field, he remains remarkably calm and composed. But on the pitch, he transforms into a single-handed warrior for Rajasthan. He opened the 2025 Ranji Trophy season with a massive statement, destroying Chhattisgarh's batting line-up with a match haul of 11/114, including a staggering 8/42 in the second innings.
One left-arm spinner from Jamnagar is already a dominant force in international cricket. It won't be long before the left-arm spinner from Sri Ganganagar finds himself next in line.
*FairPlay Sports manages Manav Suthar*